Five Wide-Format Printing Fails (And How to Avoid Them)

APRIL 25, 2019| SpeedPro Cleveland East

Here at SpeedPro Cleveland East, we take pride in our ability to connect our clients with their customers. With that in mind, producing graphics that leave a long-lasting, positive impact on prospective customers is key. As a full-service visual communications studio, we go the extra mile to ensure that the messages of our clientele are clear, concise and free of any glaring errors or omissions that could jeopardize your reputation. As competition within your market grows, your margin for error as a business owner decreases.

The visual communication elements you use for advertising your business are crucial in making a great first impression to your prospective customers. As the saying goes, “you only get one chance to make a good first impression.” When choosing a partner for your wide-format printing needs in the Cleveland-area, ask yourself what precautions they take to prevent any of the following mistakes:

1. Bad Readability
   Picking the right font is imperative for creating an attractive wide-format graphic design. But, while some fonts are unique and stand out on paper, they could cause readability issues when the size is increased several times. When your message is hard to read, the whole point of printing it large becomes moot. Your potential customers will likely be irritated and move along. And, while a bold font typically stands out on documents and smaller size collateral, it can make your wide-format material look crowded. On the other hand, messages in thin fonts can get obscured by the background. Selecting the appropriate fonts will require some playing around with those that match your brand standards. Try printing messages or parts of messages in large size, stand back several feet and determine how easy it is to read.
2. Too Much Text
   As a business owner, you have a lot to tell your customers about why they should work with you. It’s tempting to fit as much messaging as possible on your trade show backdrop, vehicle wraps, banners and other wide-format graphics. But, too text much can also become a readability problem. Peoples’ attention spans are short, and they don’t want to spend a lot of time deciding which printer to use for producing their large-format signs. It’s best to keep messaging simple, direct and clear
3. Spelling Errors and Bad Grammar
   Nothing can cause doubt in a consumer’s mind like misspelled words and grammar mistakes. These errors are another readability issue, but some that make businesses look careless and amateurish. There’s an easy way to prevent these mistakes from occurring: Review your text and have another person proof it as well.
4. Low-Image Quality
   Blowing up an image that appears clear and crisp as a 3 in. by 5 in. picture on your computer screen to a pixelated, indistinguishable mess of colors on an 8 ft. by 10 ft. backdrop is a common mistake. This usually happens because of low image resolution that’s hard to detect just by eye-balling a small image. The simplest solution is to use high resolution images taken by a professional photographer, which will yield better results. To increase the likelihood that your art will be printed crisp and clear, convert your image to a vector file. Typically, vector images can be enlarged to any size without distortion.
5. Poor Design
   Because wide-format signage is created to be seen by large numbers of people from varying distances, your design must be distinguishable. If someone attending a trade show can’t make out your sign, or motorists driving by a window graphic are confused by your design or can’t read the text, you’ve failed at capturing and holding their attention. They will not take the next steps to learn about your business. Poor designs can also be seen on vehicle wraps, and if they cover a whole fleet, you’ve got a costly fix on your hands. Consider creating mock-ups and viewing from different distances – two feet, 10 feet, 15 feet and so on. Take note of what stands out and what gets lost, and make changes until the impact is the same at all distances.

The Best Protective Measure: Scheduling an Appointment with SpeedPro Cleveland East

Using a reputable printing service with an excellent track record of success can put all your concerns about wide-format fails to rest. The quality and professionalism of your printing and graphics vendor has a significant impact on your return on investment.

SpeedPro Cleveland East has its clients’ interest at heart on every project. We don’t think of ourselves as your vendor, we consider clients as partners and ourselves as an extension of your marketing team. We collaborate with our partners to determine the right solution to every business’s print needs.

Quality should be your printing partner’s No. 1 focus. SpeedPro’s extreme resolution levels and unparalleled color matching technology create top-quality marketing solutions for clients. Our team pride themselves on their creative, strategic and consistent work – and they’re personally invested in its quality. To learn more about how SpeedPro Cleveland East can help you create flawless wide-format displays, contact our studio today.